Former Packers Star Robert Tonyan Leads Chiefs In Receiving Yards During Preseason

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Robert Tonyan hurdles Seattle Seahawks cornerback Damarion Williams during the second half on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

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Robert Tonyan was one of the best tight ends in the NFL in 2020, recording 586 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns for the Green Bay Packers.

Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, who was then the head coach of the Chicago Bears, saw that talent twice a year when the NFC rivals squared it off.

“I remember when Bobby was in Green Bay,” Nagy said. “He’s an excellent tight end.”

But in the next half decade since his Packers apex, Tonyan, who is now 31, suffered multiple injuries, including a torn ACL in 2021, and bounced around with the Bears, Minnesota Vikings — and now with the Chiefs after signing a one-year, $1.255 million contract in March, following a stint on the team’s practice squad last year.

He looks poised to resuscitate his career in Kansas City.

“This guy has been productive in the league,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “He gets it.”

In both of the Chiefs’ preseason games, he has led the team in receiving yards. Moreover, he leads all Chiefs rushers or receivers in yards from scrimmage with 90.

On Friday night against the Seattle Seahawks, Tonyan had five catches for 41 yards and scored the Chiefs’ first and only offensive touchdown. On 3rd and goal from the one-yard line, he went in motion before finding open space in the back of the end zone for the scrambling Gardner Minshew.

And he caught back-to-back passes on the third and fourth plays of the second half, totaling 28 yards, even hurdling Seahawks cornerback Damarion Williams on the latter.

The week before in Tonyan’s first preseason game with the Chiefs, he led all Chiefs players in receiving yards with three catches for 49 yards vs. the Arizona Cardinals.

“He caught the ball well,” Reid said.

His two best plays came on the Chiefs’ fifth play of the second quarter when he converted a 2nd and 4 on a 20-yard crossing route from Minshew. With 7:10 in the third quarter, he caught a 19-yard pass from Bailey Zappe.

On an earlier play in the third quarter, however, Tonyan was split out and couldn’t convert the first down.

“He had the one drop he’d like to have back,” Reid said. “But he’ll figure that one out and get it taken care of.”

Reid also said Tonyan has to improve in the run game. Nonetheless, his skill as a pass catcher could enhance the tight end room.

Future Hall of Famer Travis Kelce and Noah Gray, who the Chiefs like so much that they re-signed him to a three-year, $18 million contract in September of 2024, of course, are the No. 1 and No. 2 tight ends, respectively.

But Reid, a former tight ends coach with the Packers, likes to employ multiple tight-end sets. And the competition for the No. 3 spot is fierce. It includes Tonyan, Jared Wiley, a 2024 fourth-round pick who suffered an ACL injury during his rookie season, and undrafted rookie Jake Briningstool, who recorded 17 touchdowns at Clemson but has battled a hamstring injury during training camp.

“We compete all the time,” said Wiley, who had one catch against the Seahawks. “Just having those older guys mixed in with the younger guys like we have, it’s been awesome.”

Gray started against the Seahawks, but both Wiley and Tonyan entered the game on the Chiefs’ first offensive series.

Understandably, the 35-year-old Kelce did not play at all against the Seahawks.

That 13-year veteran knows Tonyan from Tight End University and affectionately calls the 6-5, 240-pounder “Big Bob.”

“He’s been so awesome to have,” Kelce said. “It’s just a pleasure to have that guy in here, man, always a high-energy guy, always in a good mood.”